South Branch Staff Picks Category: Graphic Novel

As you hear about marches and movements—large and small—happening all over the country, do you wonder how you fit in, what role you might play, or what difference YOU could make? Or maybe you already know: you are active in your community, and online, and you know how to make your voice heard! In either case, you’ll want to pick up these books. Any non-violent movement in this country today is a “child” of the Civil Rights Movement, and it’s vital to know where we came from if we want to know where we’re going.

The March books tell the story of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s principally through the eyes of John Lewis. Today he’s a congressman for Georgia in the House of Representatives, but in the 1960s he became an important leader in the Civil Rights Movement. These three graphic novels are an innovative collaboration between John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, along with Nate Powell as the artist.

In this immersive vision of storytelling, we bear witness to the late-night strategy meetings, tense phone calls and legendary conferences, as well as the beatings, bombings, and other brutalities suffered by protesters. We are with John Lewis as he grows from joining the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in college, to preaching sermons and leading marches in the South, and later finds himself elected as the Chairman of SNCC in 1963. He shares his multiple imprisonments, his dedication to stay nonviolent in protests, and challenges to keeping the movement whole. Through John Lewis you get to know other key figures you may not have heard about before, and learn about the complicated relationship between the different organizations that guided the Civil Rights Movement. The whole story is beautifully juxtaposed with President Barack Obama’s inaugural speech in January 2009, such that when he says “I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors,” your heart breaks with the weight of those sacrifices (March: Book Two, pg 176).

Maybe I’m taking on too much by grouping these three in a review together—there’s definitely more than enough to talk about in every single one—but after reading the first, you won’t be satisfied until you’ve read all three!

In case you needed any more motivation to pick these up today…Maybe you’ve already heard about all the awards March: Book Three has won? How about: the Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award, the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in young-adult literature, the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award, and the YALSA Award for excellence in young-adult nonfiction!

What are you waiting for? Click on the links or pictures above and request a copy today!

This collection of short stories is not for the faint-hearted! While hearkening back to the macabre roots of the original Grimm’s Fairy Tales, each of these stories features a plucky or clever heroine to cheer on—forget about pining princesses or damsels-in-distress. The stories are briskly written and acutely psychological, with the whole collection brought together by the atmospheric illustrations of Jane Laurie. There are the token popular tales of British and German origin, but mixed with several lesser-known tales, such as “The Red Shoes,” and “Molly Whupple, ”as well as some treasures from other cultures, like “Vasilisa’s Fire,” and “The Island of Skeletons”. Get into the Halloween spirit with this book today!